I am pleased to present the Jason Baker Award for children's books portraying children effectively dealing with emotions and feelings to Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz for Is A Worry Worrying You? My Name is Carli Van Scyoc and I am currently a student a Penn State University. As part of the language and literacy curriculum for the elementary education program, we had an assignment to create an award for a category that was important.  Then we were to choose a book from various student nominations that best fits our award description.  I am very happy to say that this book was perfect.  I am interested in  pursuing a career in counceling  so I used this oppurtunity to read many books that taught children how to deal with their unfamiliar emotions and understand that it is completely normal.  I absolutely love this book and would offer it to any child who finds themselves in a similar situation.  Thank you for writting just a great book.

This book is part of a series called, Hank Zipzer, The World's Greatest Underachiever. The author Henry Winkler wrote this book based on his own experiences in school. He was diagnosed as having a learning disability known as dyslexia. Hank Zipzer is smart, creative and funny. He tries to do really well in school but for some reason always seems to get into trouble. This is a great book that children with learning disabilities can relate to. The age range it is aimed for can be a difficult age for children to deal with their differences. This is a book that all kids will enjoy.

Dog Breath is about a very good dog with a very big problem, bad breath. Halle is the Tosis family pet and they love her dearly but the Tosis parents say she has to go, even the skunks avoid her. The Tosis children take matters into their own hands. In an attempt to get rid of Halle's bad breath they take her to admire a "breathtaking" view, and exciting movie that leaves you "breathless" and a ride on a roller coaster that promises to make you "loose your breath". None of these endeavors work and the children return home. Later that night burglars break into the house and Halle licks them causing them to pass out and be captured. Now the Tosis family decides to keep their wonderful watchdog. This is a laugh out loud hilarious book for all ages. I am sure that anyone who reads it will find it very amusing.

Annushka's Voyage is a marvelous story of two girls trip from Russia to the United States.  There father had left for the United States to look for work and find a place to live while the girls stayed with their grandparents in Russia. Then their father finally sent for them.  They had to travel by boat for many weeks, jammed packed with other immigrants and unsanitary conditions.  When they finally arrive in America they go through a health check and get  reunited with their  father for a very happy ending. This book is an acurate portrayal of what a jounrney to America would have been like in the early 1900's. It is uplifting and high spirited.

My Brother Matthew, by Mary Thompson, is a great book about a young boy, David, and his autistic brother, Matthew.  Matthew was born with autism and at first David is very upset by all the extra attention Matthew gets. Eventually, David loves playing with Matthew, he makes him laugh and they go on great adventures together.  David is even sometimes an interpreter for his parents because Matthew's speech is often hard to decifer. David and Matthew have a wonderfull relationship and is an inspiration to children with disabilities. This book is all around perfect, it explores the what its like to have an autistic sibling in an understanding and compassionate manner.  (the author is from State College)

This book is my personal favorite poetry book.  I remember reading this when I was young and all the kids in my class loved it too. Shel Silverstein, the author of many books of prose and poetry, really did a wonderful job with this one. Where the Sidewalk Ends has tons of poems and great illustrations to go along with each one.  Every poem is packed with humor and imagination.  One weekness for might be that it doesn't tell one continuous story.  This book would make an excellent source for a coffee house or readers theater.

Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson is an excellent book. This book is about a families struggle through a workers strike. Rosa, one of the main characters, lives at home with her mother, sister, baby brother and another immigrant family.  Bread and Roses,Too portrays her emotions about the strike and her families involvement.  It also tells the story of a homeless boy who works in the mill where the workers are striking.  Both these children leave to go to Vermont until the strike is over. There they learn alot about life and family.  This book well suites the award becase both of the main characters are from single-parent homes and this issue is addressed many times.  A weakness of the book is that children may not relate to that specific issue becasue there iare so many other issues being addressed. Overall, this is a great book for the Aiden Jacob Lewis award because it portrays many single-parent families and all the families are not the sterotypical perfect family.

  This book is about a famous sculpture in an art museum of a little ballerina girl.  The book is told from the museum guard's perspective. He tells the people that visit the museum that the statue is a girl named Maria.  Maria was a little girl who dreamed of being a ballerina at the Paris Opera House.  Her poor parents saved all their money to send her to ballet school.  At ballet school she encountered a famous artist named Degas. Maria got an opportunity to dance in the Paris Opera House but only if she took lessons everyday. Her father became very ill and since he could not work they couldn't afford it.  Then Degas offered to pay Maria to pose for him, but she only made enough to pay for her father's doctor and not dance lessons. The artist reveals that he is going blind and must sculpt her because he can no longer paint.  She never got to perform at the Paris Opera House but two years later the sculpture became very famous. This is a brilliant tale of an actual sculpture of a ballerina by sculpture/painter Edgar Degas. It displays all types of art; dance, performance, sculpture and painting.  This is an excellent book that incorporates fact and fiction of the arts all in one.

This book is a wonderful book to address a major issue in growing up, self-esteem. Curtis shows kids that feeling good means liking yourself the way you are. I'm Gonna Like Me celebrates kids differences such as, body type, missing teeth and personal style choices. This book teaches children to love themselves even if they make a mistake, don't know the right answer or get picked last in gym class. It encourages a healthy view of ones self, establishes a sense self worth and a positive outlook on life.  This book is an all around perfect book to teach self esteem, and the pictures make it even better.

In Tuesday, Wiesner takes you on a frogs nighttime journey. Starting Tuesday evening the frogs take off from on their lilly pads from the pond where they live. By 11:21 they are soaring past peoples windows and right through a sleeping womans living room. At 4:38 they harras a neighborhood dog playing in the yard. The story then ends with curious detectives trying to solve last night mystery and the readers trying to decide what will happen next Tuesday night. Those who do not have an imagination may not enjoy this book but those who do will surely fall in love with it. The reader gets to tell the story the way they want to which encourages imagination and helps to develope literature interprtation skills. The author's illustrations really make this book, literally.

The Jason Baker award is to be given to books that portray children effectively dealing with their emotions. When children do not understand why they feel the way they do and do not learn how to manage those feelings it can lead to more serious mental health issues. Books sometimes can be the only way to reach children with this vital information. It is of extreme importance that these children have accurate and easily understandable information available at all times. In Literature and the Child, Galda and Cullian state that "it is crucial that teachers and other adults put these books into the hands of all children. Knowing, through books, the possibilities of life for those with mental exceptionalities can only increase our understanding of one another." Please choose books for children ages 5-12. Nominations should depict characters demonstrating an awareness of their feelings and emotions, and effective ways to cope with them. There are a small but growing number of books that fit this category. Please submit nominations by February 19, 2008.